Research Guides: Theatre Research Guide: Plays

Find Full-Text Plays Online

Plays that are in the “public domain” (no longer covered under copyright law) are published in various locations. Some options include:

National Theatre Collection
High definition streaming video of productions and unique archival material offering insight into theatre and performance studies. In collaboration with the U.K.'s National Theatre.
Royal Shakespeare Company Collection

Offers high-definition recordings of Shakespeare's canon, featuring the world’s best Shakespearean actors and directors, along with supplemental teaching materials. Material spans from the 1600s to the present day and offers an insight into the history of performance, the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Most plays are published in one of four ways.

You can search for these on the library's website or in many of the databases we provide.

Some specific resources include:

Drama Online
Includes over 1,700 playtexts from Methuen Drama, The Arden Shakespeare, and Faber and Faber, and 700 images from the Victoria and Albert Museum and American Shakespeare Centre. The collection is continually updated with the very latest writing from new and established writers.
Twentieth Century North American Drama
Contains 2,050+ plays from the United States and Canada.
Contemporary World Drama
Database examines the richness and diversity of contemporary theatre and drama from a global context, bringing together new work from established and up-and-coming contemporary playwrights from around the world, including recently produced world premieres and previously unpublished works from every continent.

At completion, the collection will include 1,000 contemporary plays, from 2000 to present day.
North American Women's Drama
More than a thousand plays written by women with information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. The database also includes selected playbills, production photographs and other ephemera related to the plays.